Category Archives: Robert E. Lee

Abraham Lincoln Now Belongs to the Ages

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President Abraham Lincoln Died On April 15, 1865 At 7:22 In The Morning

Upon Abraham Lincoln’s death, it was reported Secretary of War Edwin Stanton said:

“Now he belongs to the ages.”

President Abraham Lincoln

President Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln’s assassination was a tragedy and the nation was in mourning. Lincoln’s funeral train traveled its way on a sad thirteen-day long journey to Springfield, Illinois. Thousands and thousands of people came to pay their respects to the fallen president as the Lincoln Special train passed through their cities, towns, and small villages.

“Marched at half past five. The news came today that President Lincoln, Secretary Seward and son have been assassinated, resulting in the President’s death and severely wounding the others. And now, while the nation is rejoicing with unspeakable joy at its deliverance, it is suddenly plunged into the deepest sorrow by the most brutal murder of its beloved chief.”
…The April 21, 1865 words of Union Sergeant Lucius Barber.

Mourning for the death of President Abraham Lincoln was not universal. Some in the defeated South were joyous over the news of Lincoln’s death… it had been a long, hard, bitter, and bloody war. Others in the South realized they had lost a friend on their path to reconstruction and healing after the war.

Lincoln’s death was not good news for the people of the South. Some leaders coming to power after Lincoln’s death would not have Lincoln’s conciliatory ideas for the South.

The Lincoln Memorial

Almost immediately after his assassination discussion begins for a memorial of some type for President Abraham Lincoln. The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. was dedicated in 1922. The Lincoln memorial has 36 columns to signify the number of states that were in the Union during Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. Carved into the marble of the south wall of the memorial is Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

Abraham Lincoln Memorial

Abraham Lincoln Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial faces toward Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s former home of Arlington House located across the Potomac River.

Lincoln’s Tomb, Springfield Illinois

William Faulkner’s Pickett’s Charge Quote

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“For every Southern boy fourteen years old…”

Pickett's Charge

Pickett’s Charge

“It’s all now you see. Yesterday won’t be over until tomorrow and tomorrow began ten thousand years ago. For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it’s still not yet two o’clock on that July afternoon in 1863, the brigades are in position behind the rail fence, the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already loosened to break out and Pickett himself with his long oiled ringlets and his hat in one hand probably and his sword in the other looking up the hill waiting for Longstreet to give the word and it’s all in the balance, it hasn’t happened yet, it hasn’t even begun yet, it not only hasn’t begun yet but there is still time for it not to begin against that position and those circumstances which made more men than Garnett and Kemper and Armistead and Wilcox look grave yet it’s going to begin, we all know that, we have come too far with too much at stake and that moment doesn’t need even a fourteen-year-old boy to think This time. Maybe this time with all this much to lose and all this much to gain: Pennsylvania, Maryland, the world, the golden dome of Washington itself to crown with desperate and unbelievable victory the desperate gamble, the cast made two years ago; or to anyone who ever sailed a skiff under a quilt sail, the moment in 1492 when somebody thought This is it: the absolute edge of no return, to turn back now and make home or sail irrevocably on and either find land or plunge over the world’s roaring rim.”

… William Faulkner
From his book: Intruder in the Dust, 1948.

Learn Civil War History Podcast: William Faulkner’s Pickett’s Charge Quote

Pickett’s Charge

Ken Burns – The Civil War

My book 501 Civil War Quotes and Notes features quotes made before, during, and after the Civil War. Each quote has an informative note to explain the circumstances and background of the quote. Learn Civil War history from the spoken words and writings of the military commanders, political leaders, the Billy Yanks and Johnny Rebs who fought in the battles, the abolitionists who strove for the freedom of the slaves, the descriptions of battles, and the citizens who suffered at home. Their voices tell us the who, what, where, when, and why of the Civil War. Available as a Kindle device e-book or as a paperback. Get 501 Civil War Quotes and Notes now!